Joe
Warren will return to action this coming Friday when the former
featherweight champion faces Nick Kirk in
the Bellator
101 headliner at Moda Center in Portland, Ore.

Bellator officials announced the news Friday. Warren and Kirk were
initially supposed to square off in their bantamweight tournament
semifinal on Sept. 7 at Bellator 98, but Warren was not medically
cleared to compete by the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic
Regulation.

With his medicals now apparently in order, Warren will assume the
Sept. 27 headlining slot opposite Kirk live on Spike TV. As a
result, the show’s original main event -- a heavyweight tournament
semifinal between Cheick Kongo
and Mark
Godbeer -- has been moved back one week to Bellator 102,
according to a recent tweet from Kongo.

Warren, 36, won Bellator’s featherweight title in 2010 but was
later knocked out by Alexis Vila
before suffering the same fate against Pat Curran,
who lifted the championship from Warren in March of last year.
After spending eight months out of the cage, Warren returned to
action last November, cruising to a unanimous decision over
Owen
Evinger.

Kirk has won three of his last four fights, though he is still
searching for his first Bellator victory after going winless in two
promotional appearances. “The Big Hurt” last competed on April 13,
submitting 21-fight pro Ben Miller
with a triangle choke under the Impact Fighting Championship
banner.